By Robert Segal: Eddie Hearn says he’s made an offer to two-time world title challenger Anthony Yarde to fight WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in October.
Bivol, 32, has been injured recently, and that’s kept him inactive. He had been waiting to see if Canelo Alvarez would choose to rematch him in September, but the Mexican star has wisely chosen not to face him.
Hearn said he recently made an offer to #2 WBA Dan Azeez to face Bivol, but he chose not to take it. As such, an offer has now been made to Yarde (23-3, 22 KOs), who is coming off a good showing against IBF, WBC & WBO 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev last January.
Hearn likes what he saw of the 31-year-old Yarde in that fight because he was ahead on the scorecards at the time he was knocked out by Beterbiev in the eighth.
If Yarde had been a little more cautious, he could have overcome the sneaky right hand that Beterbiev hurt him with.
While some would say that Yarde should focus on rebuilding his career after his loss to Beterbiev, it could take him many years, if ever, before he gets another chance to fight for a world title again. It would be a mistake for Yarde to turn down this opportunity.
Yarde is young enough to wait out the 38-year-old Beterbiev for him to hang up his gloves in two to five years, but who’s to say that someone else could come along in the meantime to move into his spot?
“He’s going to fight in October. He’s had an injury. I said to guys the other day. ‘You people think he’s just not fighting.’ He’s had an injury. He’ll be ready for October,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing News in giving an update on WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
“We made an offer to Dan Azeez, and he chose not to take it. We’re going to make an offer to Anthony Yarde and Queensberry for that fight. I like the fight, and we’ll see.
“It wasn’t offered to [promoter] Ben Shalom. Frank Smith had half a dozen conversations with Dan Azeez and made him offers for that fight. He is a free agent, and Frank Smith had five or six conversations with him and made him an offer.
“If he’s not a free agent, I think we’d have a legal, but he didn’t want to take that fight. So we’ll offer it to Anthony Yarde. He’s got another fight with us,” said Hearn when asked how many more fights Bivol has with Matchroom Boxing.
